Second only to immediately classify recruitment choices, classifying coach signings before a single off-season training or legal team meeting is the most dangerous task in the football media cycle. There is a lot that we don’t know and a lot that not even the people who know these people know. For example, we think that of all new hires in the last off-season, it would be Kevin Stefanski who would be most successful in a virtual off-season and would use a series of trivia contests and group therapy sessions to galvanize a list full of Magnification stars?
Do we think Joe Judge would emerge as the darling of the gang instead of being seen as a consolation prize for not getting Matt Rhule? Do we think that of all new hires, the most immediately faced would be Mike McCarthy, a coach who won a Super Bowl?
The point is that, like the draft, there are many immediate thoughts based on who is told and who we observe is ready. But you are never ready to be the head coach of the NFL. The position exposes the depths of your personality and preparation, unlike any position in the sport. So with that in mind, let’s take a look, but we’ll also show our work in the effort to be transparent.
Kim Klement / USA TODAY Sports (Saleh); Christopher Hanewinckel / USA TODAY Sports (Smith); Kirby Lee / USA TODAY Sports (Culley)
New York Jets: Robert Saleh
I’ve said it before, but I believe Saleh brings all the good energy from the Rex Ryan era without the side effects. Essentially, the green tea version of Ryan. This is the emotional component of this. Yes, Saleh had an excellent defensive squad and a complementary attack in San Francisco, but he also had to fight to defend huge personalities. You can’t just get someone like Richard Sherman on board without having a strong and necessary knowledge of your scheme and where it is going. Its slogan “All Gas, No Brakes” served as the motivational foundation for the cast of 49ers who made the Super Bowl.
The other slice of AN note is the fact that he managed to snatch Mike LaFleur from Shanahan, who clung firmly to his two main offensive assistants. Introducing this system to Sam Darnold, or using it to lure Deshaun Watson out of Houston, is a big part of that equation.
GRADE A
Los Angeles Chargers: Brandon Staley
I think it’s normal to love a signing, but I also don’t like the circumstances in which it happened. Like my colleague Jenny Vrentas pointed out in last week’s edition of The podcast on the weak side, much of the reason why LA was considered an important destination in this off-season was because of things that were put in place by deposed coach Anthony Lynn (including Lynn’s own hand in Justin Herbert’s progress).
That said, I wrote in early December that Staley would be the next Sean McVay, just on the defensive side of the ball. He is a former offensive player who devoured football’s most effective defensive scheme and calibrated it for a historic Rams unit that charged the team in 2020. Staley is the kind of low buy-in proposal that we encourage more groups of property I do it. Like McVay and the Rams, the Chargers had to choose between arresting Staley now or entering a much longer queue next year.
GRADE A-
Atlanta Falcons: Arthur Smith
Smith will return Atlanta to its most successful offensive system in the Matt Ryan era. The former Titans offensive coordinator has perfected the wide-zone system that Kyle Shanahan has repopulated throughout the NFL. If Atlanta were rebuilt, Smith would probably not be the right type of organizational catalyst for the task of, say, negotiating with Ryan and Julio Jones and harvesting available capital. He is in the perfect position to inject some offensive competence immediately and take the Falcons to a place where they can compete in a division that (probably) lost Drew Brees.
Before the news of a successful exchange from Deshaun Watson, I would put Smith in pole position for the head coach of the year, given the ceiling on the list and how quickly he should be able to turn the tide.
Note: B +
Jacksonville Jaguars: Urban Meyer
This hiring causes complicated feelings. Meyer has been flirting with the best positions in the NFL for years and finally decided to jump in as soon as he was assured of a treasure trove of space in the captain and the greatest potential defender since Andrew Luck. On the one hand, it makes a lot of sense. Meyer’s last team, Ohio State, has worked perfectly (on the field) since his departure. He has the ability to promote and develop a good team, but an obvious blind side when it comes to the actions of employees outside the field – an important criticism that should not simply be overlooked. I think the programs should be more collegiate oriented anyway. It makes sense to have a team that can develop young players more quickly and thus become less dependent on complicated long-term veteran contracts.
Meyer has the ability to surround himself with innovators and with the wide network his brand can launch, he is more likely to attract schematic talents who will help Trevor Lawrence to flourish.
The downside here is that Jacksonville is betting on a turning point in the franchise’s history. That, and the people he is assembling now, are not the ones who overwhelm him outright. If you are Lawrence and have the choice between, say, Darrell Bevel and Brian Daboll or Eric Bieniemy, who would you bet your career direction on? There are coordinators and coaches with better and more proven records in NFL talent development. The same can be said about general managers and their history of responsible allocation of large amounts of space. Right now, Jacksonville is putting a lot of faith in the Meyer brand.
SERIE B
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Philadelphia Eagles: Nick Sirianni
The Eagles, like the Steelers, seem to have a standard for what they want in a head coach. While Pittsburgh likes defensive coordinators in their early thirties, the Eagles seem to enjoy an untapped potential in attack, often hiring young coordinators or coaches before becoming commodities known as single players, as Andy Reid once was. Sirianni has the added advantage of working with Frank Reich, who was a key part of the Philadelphia Super Bowl race and comes with a manual on how to work with the battered Carson Wentz. Sirianni appears to be building a solid technical team that includes the critical retention of offensive lineman Jeff Stoutland and the hiring of Florida’s offensive coordinator, Brian Johnson, to train the defenders.
My lingering question here is whether Sirianni can properly navigate what could become a confusing list deconstruction. The Eagles will fundamentally change and, in the process, lose a lot of the soul of the locker room. Can he grab the young core and galvanize them in the future?
SERIE B-
Detroit Lions: Dan Campbell
It was hard not to leave Campbell’s introductory press conference a little more excited than we arrived. However, the most exciting aspect of his coaching tenet so far appears to be a willingness to diversify his team and provide high-profile jobs to the minority candidates who needed “seasoning” or were not ready for the job. Having Anthony Lynn as a full-time offensive coordinator is a win, especially if they end up developing a young starter in QB. Having Aaron Glenn as a defensive coordinator is a victory.
I’m assuming that Lions are betting on Campbell’s ability to have Mike Vrabel’s presence on the team while his coordinators do a lot of the heavy lifting schematically. And while Vrabel is great, we’ll see what the Titans look like now that Smith will be training in Atlanta. Will this be a lasting fad?
Campbell may have scared some fans with his western routine at his opening press conference, but if he is able to invest in the kind of players who buy this kind of bullshit, Lions can quickly turn into a kind of annoying blockade division. road to the NFC North bluebloods. This is much more than we can say about Lions under Matt Patricia.
DEGREE: C +
Houston Texans: David Culley
I think it’s important to momentarily separate rent from the situation, even though it’s hard to underestimate how much Texans are in a fractured mess right now. They are operating as a chauffeur-driven car that has not only a secondary set of brakes, but also some additional steering wheels and acceleration pedals. The owner can manage a franchise in which players do not want to play, but that does not mean that the coach they hired was bad. Culley, who is 65, has been in the NFL since 1994. He has trained mostly wide receivers, but he was a quarterback coach and coordinator of passing games in Baltimore. Houston, after exhausting all of his initial options, seemed to realize older coaches with great experience compared to a novice head coach. If you are general manager Nick Caserio, you must decide what kind of voice resonates most in a clearly dejected locker room. He bet on a longtime soft-spoken lieutenant tree Andy Reid to do this.
I think Culley is a good coach. My problem here is that Texans are likely to stock up on a treasure trove of picks if they negotiate with Watson. Will they receive Culley’s suggestions on how to spend that capital? Or are they just forcing you to bear the brunt of criticism while building the team you really want to build behind the scenes, dealing with Watson and possibly JJ Watt in the process?
Should the reported training structure come together and involve Lovie Smith in defense and Josh McCown as a rising coach in attack, the hiring will be easier to digest in the long run, even if that type of discussion is not necessarily fair to Culley.
DEGREE: D +